A Sunbeam, A Sunbeam...

Mikail, Eli and I decided to have lunch at the Blue Lemon in Highland. To get there, we like to go over the mountain via Suncrest. It has been raining all week...maybe 2 weeks, it seems like FOREVER! We miss the summer sun badly. We reached the top of Suncrest and the sun was actually shinning! I said to the kids, WOW, the sun is shinning up here. Eli confidently replied, "it's because Jesus is up here!" I guess being up closer to the clouds means we are closer to Christ... (I wish).

Oh Teenagers!

So, my daughter Mikail came home from her last day of 7th grade looking like THIS.

What is a mother to say?

What is this school teaching these young minds?

I tried hard to act like I didn't NOTICE the obvious.

Then, she got right in my face and announced that she was the VIKING OF THE QUARTER!

OH.

This is a MAJOR award.

I had misjudged the poor girl.

We are so proud of how well she did in school this year.

She worked hard and was very dedicated.

It's so hard to have teenagers like this....JUST KIDDING Mikail.

WE LOVE YOU!

My Ellie

This is Ellie...she is 10, almost 11...she is wonderful at everything...school work, dance, art, family & friends, soccer, babysitting, swimming...we think she is pretty special and we all LOVE her A LOT...we are very LUCKY to have her in our family!

Eli's "Final Four"

It's official...Eli turned 4 on June 1st. He has waited, patiently, every day asking "when am I going to be 4?" I mean EVERY DAY for a year! This all happened because his best friend and next door neighbor, Jaden, turned 4 a year ago...can't a kid be the same age as his best friend? The only problem is...Jaden turned 5 this past February. You've guessed it! Eli is now asking when will he turn 5? We might have to possibly move!

Eli had his first "real" birthday party. He invited Jaden and Thomas. We went to see the movie "UP" and then ate McDonald's for lunch at home. It was a RAGER I tell ya!

Later that night we had grandparents over for dinner, cake, and presents. I think he had a good day with lots of spoiling! I hope he has a good year finally turning 4...and I can't wait for the question of when will he turn 5!

Memorial Day 101

We had a great weekend with the kids! We visited "Grammy's" grave and talked about the memories we have about her. I can't believe it has been 3 years since her passing. Eli was only 5 months old and it makes me sad that he will not know her on this earth. He asked a ton of questions about her "body and bones". It made the moment quite lighthearted! I realize how smart these little ones are when they ask questions about death and what happens to their body? How does their spirit live with Heavenly Father and not their body? We spent many moments explaining to him...I'm not sure our answers were the ones he wanted! On the way out of the cemetery Eli was singing his made up version of the "Grave Song", I thought my other kids would die laughing.

We also went to the Cottage for a night with Papa and Fran. The kids love being there. We decided to go to the Provo Cemetery. Mike's grandparents and "Great" everyone are buried there, including Benjamin Bullock who donated the land for the cemetery. I love the old section of the cemetery where the Pioneer's have been buried. They have ancient looking head stones with amazing poetry about their loved ones carved into them.

So many children and babies are laid to rest there. Mike and I always get emotional reading them. One of my favorites is on a stone were a newborn baby had died, it says; "Budded On Earth To Bloom In Heaven". How sweetly said. It makes me think of my friend Michele who lost her baby (Gracie Gledhill) 2 months ago to a heart defect.

My kids were saddened by how many children died at that time. I think it in some small way, taught them to be thankful for the life and time we are living in, and to be thankful for each other.

Of course, we could not end the moment without one of Eli's funnyisms! We had told him several times not to directly step on the graves. It was way too tempting to jump from grave to grave. At one moment I saw him sitting on top of a small head stone! His eyes caught mine and before I could speak at him he said, "Don't worry mom, there is nobody in this one!"

**Just a side note on the first picture, we were all fascinated by the bottle of beer in lieu of flowers...I don't know whose grave this was, but we thought it was funny!

Dreamland

Maybe...if I was able to sleep in this position all my..........dreams would come TRUE!

Springtime Schedule

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

8:00 a.m. Run to KMART to pick up a 6 pack of flowers for Eli's preschool project
8:20 Drop off Gabe and Ellie at school
8:30 Drop Eli off at preschool
8:45 Head to Target to buy Teacher Appreciation gifts that I forgot about
9:45 Classic Skating chaperon for Ellie's Student Council and Safety patrol party
12:15p.m. Leave Classic Skating, grab a salad at Cafe Rio to eat in my car in the parking lot of Alta View hospital
12:45 Register for Kidney Ultrasound
1:00 Kidney ultrasound, reminds me of pregnancy ultrasound...makes me a little sad
1:25 Pick up Eli from Mom's house
1:50 Pick up Gabe from an early day due to Testing?
2:00 Check emails
3:00 Have a lengthy conversation with Mikail about her "CRAZY" day at school
3:45 Pick Ellie up from school
4:10 Take kids to swim team practice
WATCH...WAIT...WATCH...RESCUE Eli from falling fully clothed into swimming pool
6:00 Leave practice, drive to Wendy's for kids dinner (excited children to have JUNK)
6:25 Get ready for Mike's boss' daughter's wedding reception
6:40 Leave for Wedding
7:00 Mix and Mingle with people from Mike's work
9:15 Leave reception, get a call from Ellie saying her teacher's favorite flowers are tulips...can I pick some up?
9:30 Pick up flowers from Harmons...pathetic selection this late at night...no tulips
9:45 Arrive home, assess house damage from unattended children, pick up, clean
10:00 SIT DOWN...BREATHE...PASS OUT!